Chidambaram 'puzzled' over report about Pokhran II failure

Home Minister P Chidambaram said he was "puzzled" over a newspaper report stating that the country's second nuclear tests in Pokhran in 1998 had failed to get the desired yield. The report suggests that the tests were not such a big success as portrayed by the government.

Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said he was "puzzled" over a newspaper report stating that the country's second nuclear tests in Pokhran in 1998 had failed to get the desired yield.

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"I have seen the report. I am puzzled. The government will find out, somebody will brief you," Chidambaram told reporters after a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs.

He was replying to questions about a report in a national daily on Thursday that quotes a senior scientist associated with the 1998 tests as admitting that the only thermonuclear device tested was a "fizzle." A test is described as a fizzle when it fails to meet the desired yield.

The newspaper quotes K Santhanam, who was a representative of the Defence Research and Development Organisation and a director for the 1998 test site preparations, who says the three tests were not such a big success as portrayed by the government.